Who Watches Sleeping Demons
by taciturn-parasol
Summary: Deus Ex Machina - an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation - but in this story we'll simply call her Grace. All heroes suffer, but even they are allowed their moments of happiness when victory is unforeseeable and peace an illusion. What makes a tragedy is its ending, but this is a Beginning.


Prologue:

To the East of Lawrence, Kansas is a long stretch of lush, green grass. For many years people would come and sit to enjoy its soft touch and pleasant smell. Tiny hands would pluck at it and braid the thin, feather blades. And in the summers, people would gather, cradled in the green as they stared up into a sky that burst with the color and light of fireworks.

But then the grass grew tall and wild and though it had been a place for play, a place to hide and chase one another, the children of Lawrence were forbidden to tread in the vast green ever again. The joy that once brought so many to the field was soon replaced with fear. No one knew what could be lurking in the grass or what could be lost in it. So, it remained emptier and quieter with every passing year.

The lonely field had only one to call its friend. A warehouse, long-abandoned, that stood rusting at its center. Most of the walls had turned brown and rotted away. Whatever sprouted from the earth, climbed until the warehouse was held together with tangled vines. From a distance one could almost swear a grassy hill stood in that field.

And so, the two, the field and its friend, lived in harmony and in silence for years until, one day, a man turned his head upward only to find a broken sky.

The blue stillness was torn through by a giant flame that quickly faded behind a wall of trees. At first, he was sure he'd been mistaken. His eyes darted toward the people around him in the street, but none of them had seen. None of them had even bothered to look up.

Now, this man whose name was Alan Inglebert, wasn't of any great standing or of great importance to the world he knew, but the seemingly insignificant are often those at the beginning of all great stories.

It would be on this day that a new story would begin and it would begin with Alan.

The drive out to the field was much shorter than he had remembered, but then again, he had never driven so fast toward anything before.

The gravel popped beneath the tires of his car as he pulled up beside the field. It wasn't until he cut the engine and absorbed by the silence that he became unsure of what he was doing. He had come to this place knowing exactly what he wanted to do but now he seemed to have forgotten it suddenly.

He sat in his car and stared at the trees surrounding the field. From its edge he could see nothing. The trees were like a fortress rising high above him with hostile glares of unwelcome. At that moment, he would have left, but today was the Beginning and Alan's curiosity had not yet been satisfied.

Hesitantly, he slid out of his truck and shut the door. It squeaked, pleading him to come back inside and drive away. One foot after the other, he shuffled through the gravel toward the field. He remembered the stories his mother told him to keep him from this place. Monsters lived in there. A giant, black snake swallowed naughty children whole.

He grew, and eventually learned that none of this was true, but he could only wonder at the familiar feeling he was getting. Like there was something not right about this place. He shouldn't be here, but something stronger beckoned him to go further. With trembling hands he parted the grass and climbed into it.

The field came alive with a warm breeze, swaying happily against his chest as he pushed his way through. Soon, the warehouse came into view, rising out of the grass like a green knuckle. A cloud of dust was settling around it while smoke continued to rise out of the rooftop, only to dwindle into nothing. His heart quickened at the sight of it and he began to tear through the grass eagerly.

When he came to the warehouse, he could smell the scent of hot metal. He searched desperately for a way in but found the door was buried beneath the tangles of far-reaching grass. He went to work, pulling and ripping away at it until he had cleared away enough to grab hold of the door handle. With all his strength, he tugged at it until the rusty seal gave way and a wall of dust tumbled out at him.

Coughing and with eyes shut, Alan felt his way into the warehouse. There was the sound of light snaps and he could feel the heat of a dying fire. He squinted as he looked around but saw only bits of trash lingering in the hard dirt, and the green glow of the walls as sunlight hit them. Alan knew it had to be here – whatever had fallen from the sky – but found nothing. He sighed, somewhat relieved. He wasn't sure what he would've done if he _had _found something.

His heart slowed to a comfortable pace and he found himself calm in the silence of the warehouse. He stepped into a patch of sunlight where a part of the roof had caved in and looked up into the sky. Perhaps, it was all in his head. There was no trace, no scar in the sky that would've shown anything had fallen.

He closed his eyes against the glare of the sun and took a deep breath, taking a moment to enjoy its warmth. He stood there, listening to the chimes of the still-cooling metal only to have the unpleasant shock of something wet and thick hit his cheek. Alan's hand quickly went to his face to catch a speck of blood on his fingers.

Directly above him was a beam that ran across the length of the warehouse and as he peered up at it, he tried to find his voice in the chaos of his thoughts. He cleared his throat and though weakened by fear, he called up to the fallen something.

"H-hello? Is…is anybody up there?"

Another drop of blood fell between his feet and sent him stepping a few paces backward. Still, he did not take his eyes from that spot. He saw now that the thing began to move. A single delicate arm slipped from its hiding place and hung, white and radiant in the sun light. Next, was a face, a small, childlike face that stared at him with eyes so blue they were like crystal. The pale pink lips curved into a smile but did not part to speak. For a brief moment, the smile was gone as the hand raised itself to a dark head. Alan found the courage to speak again when the hand came away with blood.

"You're hurt." he gasped. "Alright, you-you just stay right there. I'll get some help."

He made a move to pull out his phone but a porcelain grip stopped him. The phone fell from his hand as he froze at its touch.

The girl the hand belonged to now stood before him, little, lithe and pale. Her eyes were more shocking and more brilliant in this closeness and her black hair a great contrast. She smiled again and Alan felt himself smiling too into her perfect face.

The strange girl loosened her grip on his wrist and moved her hand to cradle his own. With her palm still bloody, she did the same to the other and lifted both of his hands to her sky blue eyes. For a while, Alan said nothing, didn't move. He only watched her as she gazed at his callused palms. When she had finished, she looked up at him with tears in her eyes but still smiled, gladdened more deeply by what she had seen. She then kissed both palms and gave them a squeeze. Alan's only reaction was to laugh.

"I guess you hit your head pretty hard there."

She touched the back of her head once more and nodded.

"It's okay though because I'm gon'na get you a doctor. Alright?" he told her. His eyes wandered back up to the beam. "How the hell'd you get down from there so fast? Hell, why were you up there in the first place?"

She wouldn't answer. She couldn't. She only looked down at herself and back up at him with a hopeful expression. It was just now that he noticed how bare she was. Alan turned his head away and surrendered his jacket to her. She wrapped it around her like a bath towel only to look down at it quizzically when it fell limply to the ground.

It took Alan a moment to understand this himself, but he reached down and grabbed the jacket, dusting it off before he held to open for her.

"No, you see, you put your arms in here." he told her. The puzzled look did not leave her face. "You see? One in there, one in there."

This she seemed to understand, but instead of turning her back to him to slip into the jacket, she held both arms out and pushed them forward into the sleeves.

"No, I mean…Okay. That's okay."

He turned her around to button up the back. He tried to keep his eyes from falling upon her alabaster skin as he went from top to bottom, sealing it away into the stiff, thick cloth of his jacket.

"Okay." he breathed. "Okay, come on, let's go."

Alan held his arm out, beckoning her over to him as he edged toward the door. The girl took one step forward, then stopped herself. She took a moment to turn and look up at the sky, raising a hand above her head as though she were catching raindrops. She was beckoning something towards her as well.

Alan sighed impatiently, taking note of the matted spot on her head where it was still bleeding heavily. Carefully, he approached her and gathered her up in the crook of his arm. She turned to him with a patient gaze.

"Please," he said gently. "Let me take you to a hospital. Give me some peace of mind."

With that, she lowered her arm and let herself be guided out into the field. She turned her face down against the stinging light of the sun. It was foreign to her, frightening even, but she soon discovered how pleasant and welcoming it really was. She closed her eyes and lifted her head as they passed through the field, treading barefoot across the cool grass and letting her fingers brush against it playfully.

As concerned as he was, Alan couldn't help but smile down at her. Sure, it was mysterious that he should find her in the very same spot he was _sure_ a meteor of some sort had landed. And yes, it was strange that she was naked as well as seeming to have no knowledge of how to dress herself. But there was something about all of this, about her, that felt not only perfectly alright, but absolutely meant to be. Everything around him seemed to echo with the words, "She's yours to protect, Alan. She's important to this world and so are you."

The drive back to Lawrence was longer and silent. The girl never uttered a sound but stared intently at Alan any time that he decided to speak. She seemed to understand everything he said and actually care, but did not possess the ability to make that known to him. So, her thoughts, where she was from and even her name remained a mystery to Alan. There was a lot about her that made him curious and when he saw her turn her head back toward the field, her eyes almost worried and longing, he supposed it was just something else about her that he didn't understand.

"Alright, what are you gon'na wear? Hmmm. Well, you could wear this. It was my wife's. Or she _was_ my wife. The dress is still hers I guess." Alan mumbled as he fumbled around the top shelf of his closet.

When he stepped down from the stool he handed the girl a floral print sundress, which she took happily, though she had no clue of what to do with it.

Alan sighed. "I guess I should have seen that coming. Um, just turn around, okay?"

With her back to him, he could see the bit of gauze she had wrapped against her head. The doctor said it was nothing serious, just a bad cut and, no matter how many times Alan suggested it, said that there was no sign of a concussion. Other than the gash in her head, she was in perfect health.

Alan considered leaving her in the hospital until somebody came to take her, but that voice – that voice that seem to echo out of everything around him – came drifting back to tell him that there would be no better place for her than the futon in his living room.

There was a flood murmurs in the neighborhood when he helped a practically naked girl out of his truck and led her into the house. He made sure to close all the curtains. He grew up with these people, shared many pleasant memories and knew better than to trust them with any personal information of any kind.

As he went about the house, trying to get things together, the girl watched him patiently and curiously. She wondered why a man would need so many empty bottles, how a house could so empty when the pictures on the walls seemed to prove otherwise. There was so much she had been told about this place, these people and their ways, but there was more still that she didn't know. Perhaps, it wasn't her time, but for what other reason would she be here?

She turned her head to look at Alan, who met her eyes in an effort to keep from looking down as he unbuttoned the jacket.

"You know, eventually, you're going to have to do this yourself." he told her. She replied with a smile and weaved her way through the dress. "Are you hungry?"

She shook her head.

"Thirsty?"

Again, she shook her head.

"Tired?"

Once more.

He lowered his voice and asked, "Are you an alien?"

She giggled mutely at this, holding a hand over her silent mouth. Alan laughed too, though he could not deny that he felt there was some sort of truth behind it. Perhaps not exactly true, but something close to it. She wasn't from here and that was alright with him. He just wasn't sure what to do with her at the moment.

"So," he began. "I'm gon'na ask you a few questions and you can answer them as best you can. How's that sound?"

Her expression showed no objection to this. Alan took a deep breath clapped his hands together and took a seat at the edge of his bed.

"Alright, let's start with…Oh, I don't know. Where are you from?"

The girl lifted her head and gestured toward the ceiling.

"You came from the sky?"

She stretched her arm to its full length above her head.

"Higher than the sky. Space?"

Now, she tiptoed.

Alan's eyes widened at her in disbelief. "Farther than space?"

She nodded. He let out a breath of air, the very thought of it too overwhelming for his imagination.

"Well, what about family? Do you have a family…up there?"

She nodded.

"Do they know you're here?"

It took her a moment to answer this question. She frowned as she thought and then, shook her head.

"But if they _did_ know, they'd come and get you right?"

She nodded.

"You wouldn't happen to know how to get in touch with them…"

She shrugged.

"Okay, okay. Then, I guess you can stay with me until you figure things out, but I'm gon'na have to call you something. Do you have a name?"

She frowned. A name. No, she didn't have one. She hadn't been given one.

"You don't remember?"

There was no way of explaining to him that she simply didn't have a name. You can't forget what you never had but there was no way of telling him this. She understood him, there was no difficulty in that but it was the talking back that proved to be more of a challenge.

Alan took her blank stare as a "no" and continued to talk.

"How 'bout I say a list of names and whatever you think sounds familiar, then I'll call you that?"

It was an interesting proposal. It was one thing to be given a name but another thing entirely to pick one for yourself. She sat beside him on the edge of the bed, ready to begin. Alan eyed her carefully as he tried to decide.

"Oh, it's Alan by the way." he told her.

Her nose wrinkled at the sound of it.

"No, I mean that's _my_ name." he laughed. "Don't worry, I'll try to come up with some good ones."

Alan, she thought. That entire life she had seen. That beauty, that simplicity. The glow of his smile, roughness of his skin and the dirt stuck under his nails. The palms that she kissed and the warmth in his scent. All of it was him and it was named Alan.

What sort of name would she be?

"Hmmm." Alan hummed thoughtfully. "Could it be…Samantha?"

She felt nothing in hearing this. He went on.

"Rita? Victoria? Isabelle? Michelle? Christine? Anna?"

She smiled at the familiar sound of that last name but shook her head.

Alan sighed. This might take longer than he thought. He thought of all the names he could think of but all of them were either too random or not fitting enough. All the while, the girl waited patiently, believing this to be a part of the process.

He tried a different approach.

"So, you fell from the sky or rather, from a place farther than space." Alan mumbled. "And you're very pretty…"

He dared a glance at her. She seemed flattered.

"What do you think of Angel?"

Well, that seemed a little too obvious. She was so sure it would have turned out differently. After all, Alan didn't go by the name Human and not all humans went by the name Alan.

He could see that this struck her in some way, but not in the right way. Then, just bubbling up to the surface of his mind, there came a name. One that felt right on his lips as his said it. The name she would be given and have forever.

"Grace." he said with a smile. "I'll call you Grace."

Grace was more than pleased by this. That's what she was. She was Grace. A joy filled her to the brim – she almost dared to speak it, but she had Alan's safety to think about.

In her smile and in her brilliant, blue eyes was the deepest sense of gratitude. In her heart there was an overwhelming sense of belonging. She belonged to him and he to her. And Alan couldn't help but feel the same way.

As the days passed on, Alan could say with honesty that he had never been happier in his life.


End file.
